Page 29 - Straive eBook: Redefining Your Peer Review Experience

Straive | Redefining Your Peer Review Experience 29

The Evolving Peer Review Standards

In addition to establishing a system of pre-print
archives, the internet and large databases
enabled journals to publish a vast amount of
articles. The launch of open-access journal
PLoS ONE by the Public Library of Science
(PLoS) in 2006 was a significant step forward
in this regard. As part of the journal's review
process/business model, reviewers were
asked to base their acceptance or rejection
recommendations merely on the soundness
and validity of the study. PLoS ONE has
been one of the fastest-growing publication
platforms ever since. Other publishers and
journals, including SAGE Open and BMJ Open,
followed suit to adopt the same non-restrictive
review model.

The scholarly community witnessed a sudden surge in the number of manuscripts published
in outlets using this non-restrictive review model. This sudden surge could be primarily
attributed to the less restrictive review procedure, resulting in new challenges in the
publication process. Finding enough qualified reviewers to manage submissions is one of
the challenges. Additionally, the large number of published papers raised concerns that the
scientific literature may become unmanageable due to an oversupply of papers. This
generated an increasing need for further screening to guarantee that academics can deal
with the massive quantity of potentially relevant papers. With this came the need to
develop innovative techniques to direct readers' attention to papers that are most likely to
benefit them.

Implementing Software Tools in the Review Process

New digital technologies provided specialized technical assistance in determining whether or
not articles were publishable.

The plagiarism detection software was the first essential component of technical aid to
be employed in peer review. The initial versions of plagiarism detection algorithms were
developed in the context of computer code copying rather than literary plagiarism. Only later
did this grow into plagiarism detection systems for publications to detect unjustified copying
in research articles. A majority of publishers and journals today utilize some sort of plagiarism
detection programme to support peer review.

Apart from plagiarism detection, online tools have lately emerged to help reviewers in a variety
of different ways. Artificial intelligence technology is being widely used to create software